Radeon 8500 and a PIII?

[jonnyurso]

I have a geforce 256 and want to upgrade. What do i choose?
GF3 or Radeon 8500? I like to have good gaming performance in upcoming games and good dvd playback.
My specs:
ABIT BE6 II
pIII 1ghz (133 FSB)
256 MB ram pc133
30 GB HDD

By the way i was reading some posts and maybe ill think about a gf4 ti4200. But will it work in my overclocked AGP port? I have a BX board @ 133 FSB...

 

[mystic]

Eitehr GPU is a lot more powerful than your Geforce 256. Considering that the 8500 is cheep($140) and has better DVD quality then nvida, It would buy the 8500.
But if you just have a urge to go with a geforce 3 you won't be disapointed either.

 

[arsend]

Although I am Partial to ATI cards, both cards will give you a signifigant improvement over your current card. The final decision lies in what you want out of your card. Here are some Pros and cons to both cards:

ATI:
Multiple Monitor support
Faster clocked processor and memory
Better DVD Playback
More current hardware options
Cheaper Costs

GeForce3
<b><font color=red>Better Drivers</font color=red></b> (ATI is getting better, but they do have a bad rep on this end)

More Preformance with current drivers


If it works for you then don't fix it.

 

[jonnyurso]

What about GF4 Ti4400? I've heard about the improvements but the architecture of this board is the same as the GF3. So i ask, in a point of view, not only of performance but DVD playback quality which board is the best considering both points (DVD and performance).
There is also another thing...if the Radeon in my country had the price of 140$ i dind´t need to ask these questions. Here a radeon costs at least 350$ and a GF3 ti200 costs 300$...so you see in a country where the pc parts cost this much we have to ask a lot before we buy...My salary is 270$ per month...

 

[TWC]

You say you want good performance in up coming games, than you must go with the 8500, it supports DX 8.1 features, the GF's don't,and I would have to assume up coming games will implement these features.

"I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints."

 

[Crashman]

The 8500 is a great card and the best value on the market. And you have a great system for it.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Oni]

What about GF4 Ti4400? I've heard about the improvements but the architecture of this board is the same as the GF3. So i ask, in a point of view, not only of performance but DVD playback quality which board is the best considering both points (DVD and performance).

Actually the Geforce 4 is greatly improved over the Geforce 3 architexture, there are MANY physical changes.
Several reviews have even taken the Ti4600 and underclocked it to 240 MHz GPU and 500 MHz MEM (Geforce 3 Ti500 speeds) and it gave about 15-20% performance boost. Several reviews have also shown that the new Geforce 4s are catching up or beating ATI in 2d, and DVD performance/quality.
As far as cards working in an overclocked AGP bus I've heard most nvidia cards work fine, but I havn't heard anything about Radeons and out of spec AGP speeds. Its deffinitely something I would look into though.

"Why can't I be the man? I mean, I DO have harmony balls..." -epoth